David Diaz Faces Humberto Soto For WBC Lightweight Crown

ByBoxing Press

Former WBC Lightweight Champion David Diaz is in his final week of training in his hometown of Chicago as he prepares for his rumble with Humberto Soto on Saturday, March 13th at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

Diaz is working with his manager/trainer Jim Strickland and co-trainer Mike Garcia as he looks to regain the WBC Lightweight Title he lost to pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao in June 2008.

On Friday, March 5th at 1pm, Diaz will hold an open workout for members of local the media and his Diaz Army at JABB Boxing Gym, 410 N. Oakley in Chicago.

The Diaz/Soto world title bout headlines the pay-per-view undercard of The Event: Pacquiao vs. Clottey, World Welterweight Championship.

Diaz (35-2-1, 17 KOs), of Chicago , is looking to regain the WBC lightweight title he lost to pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao in June 2008. A 1996 U.S. Olympian, Diaz captured the WBC interim lightweight title by knocking out defending champion Jose Armando Santa Cruz in the 10th round of their 2006 rumble.

He successfully defend the title in Chicago against future Hall of Famer Erik Morales in 2007, winning a unanimous decision in one of the year’s most exciting fights and sending the three-division world champion into a three-year ring exile. Diaz, currently world-rated No. 7 by the WBC, won his last fight, a 10-round decision over Jesus Chavez.

Soto (50-7-2, 32 KOs), of Los Mochis, Mexico, captured the vacant WBC super featherweight in December 2008, winning a lopsided unanimous decision over former WBC interim super featherweight champion and top-rated contender Francisco Lorenzo.

Soto successfully defended the title three times in 2009, knocking out Antonio Diaz, Benoit Gaudet and Aristides Perez in a nine-month span, all the more impressive considering they had a combined record of 61-5-1 when he fought them.

He enters this fight riding a six-fight winning streak, his most recent victory a December 2009 10-round lightweight unanimous decision over former IBF lightweight champion Jesus Chavez.

Remaining Tickets to Pacquiao vs. Clottey, priced at $700, $500, $300, $200, $100, and $50, can be purchased in-person at the Cowboys Stadium box office in Arlington , or by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com.

The Pacquiao vs. Clottey pay-per-view telecast, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, has a suggested retail price of $49.95, will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes.

The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. HBO Pay-Per-View, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. For Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight week updates, log on to www.hbo.com or www.toprank.com.